White Sox finally give up on Derek Holland

derekholland
Sooner or later it was coming. It took until September 5th for the White Sox to cut ties with left hander Derek Holland.

The 30-year-old Holland latched onto the White Sox last offseason winning a rotation spot and pitching well for the first half of the season. Through the end of May, Holland had generated a 2.37 ERA, a .227 batting average against allowing 8 homers and doing a fair job of keeping the ball on the ground while acting as a veteran influence within the dugout for a team destined to finish last in the American League Central.

Then just as fast, Holland saw things go off the rails. The demise of Holland’s season happened quickly but there were scant reports that teams had interest in him leading up to the deadline. Whether or not any serious talks ever took place is unclear but no one could have expected the 9.32 ERA or the .335 batting average gainst or the 23 homers allowed that followed between Holland’s next 19 outings – 16 of which were starts.

White Sox manager Rick Renteria had already been moving Holland in and out of the rotation, having him pitch out of the bullpen on his off days. Whatever purpose that was to serve is now gone. The team now seems to be going forward with a rotation of David Holmberg, Reynaldo Lopez, Carlos Rodon, Luis Giolito and James Shields should he be healthy enough to start after taking a shot off his knee in Monday’s loss to the Indians.

The fact that the front office viewed now as a good time to release Holland after seeing a potential injury to Shields speaks volumes about how the club viewed what Holland had left to offer. It is possible that Carson Fulmer will also see some time in the rotation but thus far his 2017 has been a mixture of struggles at the Triple-A level which have only become more obvious in his brief time with the big league club.

If Holland wants to continue his big league career he will likely have some suitors this winter, but any contract offers are likely to be of the minor league variety.

John Boarman
John Boarmanhttp://www.tireball.com
Founder and Owner of Tireball Sports.

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